The exhibition ‘All Shall Be Afforded Dignity’ celebrates 30 years of democracy in South Africa and offers a chance to reflect on the enduring question of ‘dignity for all’ in South Africa and beyond.
Free but book here.
Weird As Folk invites you to wander through the mysteries of our Folklore collection and reimagine what folklore means to you. We have ventured across the Northwest, delved deep into the cloughs and unearthed Folk treasures. From centuries-old boots found concealed in chimneys, to witch-bottles and dastardly boggarts. We invite you to explore the hidden histories displayed within the volumes from our Folklore collection, and meander through our folk-forest, where you can contribute your own tall tales written down on a folk-leaf or two.
Weird As Folk is forged from the desire to spark the curiosity and contribution of audiences everywhere. Folklore is made by us all:, it is what we do, make, and say everyday. We invite you to contribute your own stories, folk sayings, and responses to the collection and exhibition.
Weird As Folk invites you to wander through the mysteries of our Folklore collection and reimagine what folklore means to you. We have ventured across the Northwest, delved deep into the cloughs and unearthed Folk treasures.
A teaser display on words used to catalogue folklore related books. Come along and try your knowledge – do you know what Wag-at-the-Wa’ means? Or mumming?
A closing talk on the main themes of the Infamous exhibition by Professor Yangwen Zheng.
Join us for the launch of our new exhibition curated by Iris Yau 丘靜雯 FRSA FHEA (University of the Arts London) on British trade (including trade wars) with China in the nineteenth century.
The workshops invite you to think and write about where our food is from, explore how we gather our ingredients and prepare them. We will talk about what we eat, how we eat, where we eat and who we eat with. We will explore what we pass on, what recipes, traditions, and rituals we send to the next generation.
Dining In: Exploring Manchester’s histories through our stomachs is an exhibition about the history of dining and food in the Northwest of England, how that’s changed over time, and the future of food and dining through interactive events at the Portico Library.
Free. Online - book here
Belonging, representation and display in museums and libraries and the power imbalance that affects indigenous people.
The word Didiji is a well-known respectful term commonly used in Hindi to address an elder sister or lady. When heard amongst a sea of English words, it brings a knowing smile. Uthra Rajgopal, an Independent Curator specialising in South Asian textiles, is a member of an all-female South Asian group of artists established in 2020 called the Didijis.
The Portico was once a colonial gentleman’s library set in the heartland of the cotton industry, which directly profited from the crops grown in the subcontinent of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Today the Portico is proud to exhibit Voices: the Didijis artistic responses to the collection, and what it means to be part of a diaspora. The artists chose publications from the collection that looked at the subcontinent through a colonial lens and made connections with their individual art practices.
Manchester is a city which was built on the wealth of the British Empire. The Didijis’ presence could never have been imagined when the Portico library was built, and we celebrate their voices here now.
Explore some of the issues and challenges in looking at parts of our historic collection of books from the nineteenth century.
